In being placed in Group A, England look to have a solid chance of progressing to the semi-finals and will be particularly pleased that they’ve avoided all of Germany, Spain, Italy and Portugal. Aidy Boothroyd’s men come into this competition in decent form and really ought to fancy their chances against a Sweden side who, despite winning the last renewal of this tournament, come here in patchy form.
What is particularly eye-catching about this under-21 England side is the number of goals that they’ve been scoring prior to this tournament. With this in mind, coupled with the fact that Sweden appear to be a little lightweight at the back, backing ‘England to Score Over 1.5 Goals’ is a sound way to start the tournament on Friday evening.
In the midfield and forward areas, especially out wide, this young England squad boasts a good blend of experience, pace and creativity, not to mention firepower up top, which is reason enough for fans to be excited ahead of Friday’s opener. With the likes of Leicester City’s Demarai Gray and Southampton’s Nathan Redmond there’s no shortage of pace in there while the inclusion of players such as Will Hughes, Jack Grealish, James Ward-Prowse and Lewis Baker means there’s also plenty of creativity on offer. Add in Tammy Abraham, who couldn’t stop scoring during his spell in the Championship last season, up top and it’s easy to see where both the chances and the goals are going to come from.
Leading up to this tournament, England U21’s attacking players put in a number of good performances having scored no less than 12 goals in their last five matches, as well as seven in their last two. In addition, Boothroyd’s side have scored at least twice in five of their last six. Most recently, commanding wins over both Denmark (4-0) and Iceland (3-0) have given the impression that this side mean business and they’re likely to come here and get on the front foot. Considering that they face a Swedish team who’ve conceded goals of late, such form bodes well.
At under-21 level, Sweden are a team who’ve managed to upset the odds more than once in recent times; back in 2015, they famously won this competition, despite losing to England in the first match and have since qualified for this year’s renewal by finishing ahead of both Spain and Croatia in qualifying. However, even though they’re clearly no mugs, they’ve shown a tendency to concede goals of late. Most recently, their 2-0 defeat against a Danish team who were blown away by England not that long ago was a poor showing while they were also embarrassed defensively when losing 2-0 against Serbia back in March. At the other end, this team could be a threat but, having conceded at least twice in three of their last five, are expected to struggle against a pacey and confident England front-line.
England have been scoring for fun in their last few outings at under-21 level and, in Kielce on Friday night, can continue in the same vein against an opposition back-line that has been leaky of late.
Outright betting tips for the under-21 tournament can be found here.